Speaking at a science conference in Ottawa on Thursday, Canada’s newly appointed governor general, Julie Payette, directed some harsh comments towards climate skeptics, astrologists, and believers of “divine intervention.” Critics complained that it’s not the governor general’s place to get involved in such matters,…

On Saturday, Gizmodo published a 10-page-long screed written by Google software engineer James Damore blasting the company’s diversity policies. In the now-viral document entitled “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber,” Damore asserts that women are biologically ill-equipped to handle the rigors of the tech industry. The…

Asparagus might be good for you, but there is no firm evidence to suggest it can prevent cancer. And yet, the website for wellness company BioStar Organix listed it among multiple products that do just that. “Asparagus should be taken by everyone for heart, cancer prevention,” the website read. It can also treat…

Science doesn’t have all the answers. There are plenty of things it may never prove, like whether there’s a God. Or whether we’re living in a computer simulation, something proposed by Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom and others, and maybe your stoned friend Chad last week.

Dietary supplements don’t need to do anything, by definition. Tonsof themdon’t. That might sound strange, since half of Americans take a vitamin or mineral supplement daily. But there are in fact, reasons to take some of them. Let’s say you eat nothing but ground beef, Cheerios and Dr. Pepper every day. My…

Built by Christians who believe the Earth is 6,000 years old, a 510-foot-long, $100 million “replica” of Noah’s Ark is set to open in a new Kentucky theme park later this week. Critics say the attraction is nothing more than a big church that’ll be used to perpetuate creationist nonsense.

Remember last November when Canadian scientists published a study using the tweets of Deepak Chopra to demonstrate how some people can interpret utter bullshit as deeply profound observations? It’s now sparked a counter-argument and a sharp rejoinder—two respectable scientists arguing about the meaning (or lack…

These creepy miniature heads — 60 in all — are a fascinating relic of a short-lived fad in the 18th century called phrenology. They’re currently housed at the Science Museum in London. Phrenology was basically a pseudoscientific approach to determining someone’s personality traits and intellectual capacity by feeling…

I think Rob Rhinehart is trying to turn himself into some sort of creepy nerd messiah. Today he posted a giant essay to promote the release of Soylent 2.0, the next version of his sperm-esque food replacement drink. It was all about how he’s given up alternating current so he can get ready for his life as a space…

George Antheil was a musician, a scientist, a “bad boy,” and a man who thought he knew a lot about women. He was only three of those things, and his articles about how to use glandular science to pick up ladies prove that.

“Slim by Chocolate!” the headlines blared. A team of German researchers had found that people on a low-carb diet lost weight 10 percent faster if they ate a chocolate bar every day. It made the front page of Bild, Europe’s largest daily newspaper, just beneath their update about the Germanwings crash. From there, it…

UFOlogists in the United States are excited over the prospect that Hillary Clinton, should she be elected President, will expose a long-standing government conspiracy to suppress information about alien visitations.